Upcycled apron from the airing cupboard (aka the pillowcase pinny)

Last month I promised a tutorial for germ warfare aprons, but things have moved on since then...

Recently I found some busily-patterned old pillowcases, and was wondering what to do with them when I realised that the pillow case dimensions might be just right for a child's apron. It worked! I do like a nice upcycle, so here's the new tutorial for an apron from a pillowcase (though of course it would work with non-pillow fabrics as well).

You will need:

one pillowcase

thread

sewing machine

ruler and pencil (or washable fabric marker)

scissors

(I used a housewife pillowcase with a folded-over section - if yours doesn't have this you will also need some ribbon or other fabric for the ties and neckband).

Let's get started:

Turn your pillow case inside out...

and carefully cut away the folded-over rectangle of fabric at the open end.

First: the neck-band and apron strings

(it's good to get the fiddly bits done at the start)

On the cut-out rectangle of fabric, mark three 4cm wide strips, starting at the long hemmed edge.

Here's a close-up of the strips, marked and ready to cut.

Ready to start sewing!

The strip which already has one hemmed edge is going to be the neck band.

Fold and press a 1cm hem on the other long side, then fold and press again to form a double hem.

Stitch along the folded edge.

The two strips without hems will be the waist ties (the proverbial apron strings, I think).

Fold and press a 1cm hem on one short end of each.

The press both in half lengthways, fold in the long raw edges to the centre and press again.

Fold again lengthways to enclose the raw edges, and topstitch along the open edge to form the ties.

(They will still be unfinished on one end - this is where they will attach to the apron later).

Neck band and ties finished - hooray!

Cutting out the apron

Fold the pillow case in half lengthways.

Mark a point 11cm from the fold on one of the short edges - this will be the top of the apron.

Mark another point 28cm from the top edge on the side-seams of the pillowcase.

Join these two pints with a smooth curve - this is the stitching line.

Draw a cutting line 1cm outside the stitching line and cut along this through all four layers of fabric.

Cut off the top seam 1cm from the edge.

Unfold (it's starting to look like an apron...)

Attaching the ties and neck-band

Fold back the upper layer of fabric to separate the top halves of the apron - now you are looking at the right sides of the fabric on the inside of the pillowcase.

Pin the neck band in place, aligning its raw edges with the top of the apron.

(The neck band needs to be placed 1cm in from the sides to allow a seam allowance when the two layers are joined together - see the photo above).

Baste neck band to apron and pin to make sure it doesn't get caught in the seam allowances later on.

Pin the waist ties in place - raw edges against the side seams - 1cm below the edge of the fabric
(again, so they don't get caught in the seam allowances).

Sewing it all together:

Pin the two layers together, sandwiching the waist ties and neck-band inside the pillowcase, between the right sides of the fabric.

Now stitch all the way around the edges of the body of the apron, leaving a 10cm gap in the lower edge for turning.

Leave a 1cm seam allowance all the way around - even on the side seams which are already stitched. You need to sew inside the original seams in order to catch the waist ties in the new seam allowance.

When you come to sew over the waist ties and the neck-band, backstitch and sew over them again to secure them really well.

Close-up of the lower edge with pins in place to remind me to leave a gap.

(The edges look a bit uneven here so I trimmed them before stitching).

Trim the corners and clip the curves to help it all lie flat when turned.

Turn and press:

Turn through the gap in the lower edge, and press very well all the way around - it's worth doing this from both sides if you're wanting the apron to be reversible.

Press the lower edges under by 1cm at the turning gap, and pin this closed.

Now topstitch all the way around the body of the apron.

Hurrah! All done...

My apron looks as though it's posing for the camera here...

... and here's the more demure version on the reverse.

It didn't take long to make, and it's good to see old pillowcases rehabilitated and brought out from the airing cupboard! 

Let me know if you make one (or two, or three...)

Embracing imperfection...

Here is the new-look, super-quick 'perfect' bib. I think I've stumbled on the secret of the ideal bib: it must be slightly faulty. Otherwise, you might not want to cover it in goo on a daily basis. (I have a couple of venetian lace bibs - they are really very beautiful - and they have never been near a pea puree, or even a baby).

So wonkiness in the stitching and glitches in the bias tape are here to be celebrated. This  is all about speediness

These are the components:

- a very old flannel.

- two rectangles of patterned cotton, each at least 10' by 13', or a fat quarter folded in half.

- 130cm (ish) bias tape 

The pattern measures 10 inches across, 8.5 inches from neckline to base, and 13.5 inches in total from top to bottom - it's a bit more generous than most, so it will work for very messy babies. The inside neckline measures 12 inches.

And here's the method:

Sandwich the flannel between the cotton rectangles, right sides facing out.

Pin here and there around the sandwich.

Sew through all three layers using a straight stitch to form a wide zig zag pattern,
first from side to side, then top to bottom of the rectangle.

Don't be tempted to cut the bib shape yet, this stitching will save a lot of pinning later on.

Here's a detail photo to show how it should look when it's stitched.

Now cut it out, all three layers together...

... and bind around the edges with bias tape - fold it around the raw edges of the bib, and sew through all the layers using a short, wide zig zag stitch to catch both sides of the bias tape at once. 

No need to pin anything, hooray!

But - my home-made bias tape was just a smidgen too short.  I decided to celebrate this, in the spirit of embracing small imperfections, and patched it up with a contrasting colour.  I'm quite liking it this way - what do you think?

Attach your fastening of choice - I chose the instant gratification of press-on snaps.

All done! - and in super-quick time, even allowing for making my own (slightly too short) bias tape, and for taking photos.

Please feel free to use this pattern for whatever purposes you wish, but I'd be grateful if you would link back to here as runcibledays is still a blog in its infancy and needing all the help it can get.




Do let me know how speedily your bibs come together! I would love to see your pictures on flickr...




Vroom! Upcycled cycle shorts

Last weekend was the 3rd annual Brompton World Championship.  Just in case that means nothing to you, it's a folding bicycle race around the grounds of a stately home in Oxfordshire, with a dress code that includes 'jacket and tie' and 'no visible sportswear'.  My husband was taking part, dressed in green to match his bicycle, and I had planned to take all the little runcibles for a picnic next to the track so we could cheer him on. But we are fair weather supporters and the weather was not fair at all. The torrential downpour made it look a lot more gruelling and less cucumber-sandwichy than last year (at least on the you-tube version of events, which was as close as I got this year).

Anyway, as I wasn't there for the actual race I thought I could show my support instead with some upcycled cycle shorts for son#2, aged 5.  There's something very satisfying about a bicycle-themed upcycle.

This isn't a tutorial, as such, because there are so many better ones out there. My favourite is at Make Baby Stuff, and includes patterns for baby sizes. This is just larger version using a current pair of shorts as a template, and tweaked slightly to make the most of the 'vroom' T-shirt...

Here's the original T shirt, from last year's Bike to Work day...

... and here it is again, with two leg pieces, each cut on the fold using an existing pair of shorts as a template, and two pocket pieces, which look upside-down in this picture - this means the straight, top sides of the pockets are cut from the hemmed lower edge of the T-shirt, so there's no need to finish them later.

Does that make sense?

Here's another picture which might help...

All the pieces opened out and ready to sew.

This is my favourite bit - the 'vroom' logo from the T-shirt cut out and appliqued onto the front of the left leg piece, using bondaweb and a zigzag stitch around the edge.

The pins are marking the sideseam, and the places where the bottom of the waistband and the seamline at the back will be, to allow the back pocket to be placed centrally.

The pockets are hemmed at the top already (from the T shirt hem) and won't unravel as they're made of jersey, so I just stitched around them with a short zigzag as well. This is the left leg - the right is just the same but without the applique.

Here's the left leg folded right-sides-together and pinned ready to sew the inside leg seam, and the right leg, once again, is just the same.

Here are the two legs ready to be joined together - the right leg turned right-side-out and placed inside the left leg which is still right-side-in. The two pieces are joined along the crotch seam with a stretch stitch.

I've only recently discovered the stretch stitch on my machine (after 25 years I decided to read the instruction booklet) and am very excited that I can now sew jersey fabrics!

Not sure how useful this picture is! The shorts have been opened up but are still inside out. This is the waistband hem, folded over about 3/4 inch to create a channel for 1/2 inch wide elastic. The photo is supposed to show a zig zag stitch just covering the raw edge. The zig zag goes almost all the way around the waist, leaving a 1 inch gap to thread the elastic.

 I measured my elastic by holding it around son#2's waist, then threaded it through the channel, overlapped the ends about 1/2 inch and sewed them together and closed the gap. The waist is just tight enough to keep the shorts up, but still nice and comfortable.

Hooray, Vroom shorts completed!

And this is the back view with pockets.

The fit is more circus short than cycle short at the moment, but son#2 loves them.

Perhaps he can wear them to the 2011 world championship (weather permitting)...